Checked Into Love (Bachelorette Party Book 2)

by Rochelle Paige

  I also hadn’t expected Alec, a friend of Luka’s growing up and one of my teammates, to show up at such an inopportune moment. We were supposed to meet him at his brother’s co-ed bachelor/bachelorette party in less than half an hour. As soon as he opened his mouth, I wished he’d gone with the plan… and that I hadn’t opened up to him about Cecily one night when I’d gotten drunk after a tough loss while we were on the road for an away game.

  “Hey! Don’t forget to factor the playoffs into your plans,” he protested as he walked up behind us. “And you’d better make sure the girl you fix him up with is named Cecily or else there isn’t a chance in hell he’s going to go for it.”

  “Cecily, huh? Have you been holding out on me?” Luka asked, narrowing his eyes at me accusingly.

  “Fuck,” I sighed, knowing damn well the subject wasn’t going to drop until I explained who she was. “Remember the woman I told you about that night we bumped into each other at that bar? The one who I’d been talking to all night, but then she pulled a disappearing act when she went to the bathroom?”

  “The red-headed chick?”

  He had the hair color right, but his phrasing didn’t come close to describing Cecily. “The fucking gorgeous woman with fiery red hair that hung almost to her perfect ass, flashing green eyes, and creamy white skin I wanted to lick all over. Yeah, that one.”

  Luka’s eyebrows rose at my description, while Aubrey got all teary eyed. “What about her?”

  Considering how hung up he’d been on Aubrey back before they’d started to date, I figured he’d get why I’d kept quiet about her. I should have talked to him about her a long time ago because best friends weren’t supposed to keep shit like that from each other. But I hadn’t been able to make myself to do it. The only time I’d allowed myself to say anything about her was when I was blitzed out of my mind. My not talking about her didn’t mean I didn’t think about her every damn day, though.

  “She’s the reason I’ve been going solo. I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind since that night,” I admitted. “I’ve even gone back to Echo more times than I’m willing to admit. I couldn’t help myself, not when I knew the owner of the place used Pied Piper PR, where she works. I was hoping to bump into her there, even if it was while she was on the job. But it’s like she vanished without a trace. And when I finally asked the bartender about her, he told me the damn place had been sold to a new owner!”

  “Echo? My brother bought that place.”

  I turned to glare at Alec. “Are you fucking kidding me? All this time, and I could have just asked Andrew to put me in touch with the guy he bought it from so I could track Cecily down?”

  “Wait a second. She’s a redhead named Cecily who works at Pied Piper PR?” Aubrey squeaked, flashing wide eyes at Alec.

  “Shit man, you didn’t mention where she worked when you were moaning about how she walked out on you without giving you any way to contact her.”

  “So what? It’s not like it would have made a difference.”

  Alec just shook his head, aiming a smug grin my way before sharing a weird look with Luka and Aubrey.

  “I predict that Mrs. Palmer and her five daughters are going to get a break soon, buddy.”

  “Rude much?” Aubrey punched Luka on the arm, but she was still smiling at me with a huge ass grin spread across her face.

  “Why do I have the feeling I’m being left out of the loop on something major here? If it’s about Cecily, one of you had better start talking.”

  “After the party,” Aubrey insisted, standing up to slide her coat on. “Josie will be upset if we’re late since she asked Luka to be one of the ushers at the ceremony. And if Josie’s upset, then Andrew will be pissed. An angry Andrew is something I’d like to avoid.”

  “As much as I enjoy yanking my brother’s chain, Aubrey’s right. We better head out. As the best man, I can’t be late.”

  “Well then maybe you should have just met us there,” I grumbled, following after them.

  “Ah, but then I wouldn’t know how much more fun tonight is going to be than I expected.” He rubbed his hands in excitement, which only irritated me further because I hated feeling like I was in the dark about something important. But I was determined not to let it show because tonight wasn’t about me—it was a celebration of the happiness Andrew and Josie had found together. Although I had to admit I thought the whole co-ed bachelor/bachelorette party thing was a little weird, but not surprising since Alec had shared that his brother took the caveman thing to a level well beyond how Luka acted with Aubrey.

  As we walked into The Box, one of Andrew’s nightclubs, my irritation was replaced by shock when I quickly spotted a familiar ass—one I’d last seen when she’d walked away from me nine months ago for what I’d thought would only be a few minutes. My hungry gaze took in her long red hair which brushed against that perfect ass. It was longer than it had been back then.

  “Cecily,” I breathed out. Even though she was too far away to hear me, she turned at my words. Stunned green eyes met mine. Plump pink lips parted in a startled gasp.

  “Cecily Thompson,” Alec confirmed. “Otherwise known as Cee-Cee, maid of honor opposite my best man and Josie’s best friend since we all went to Brower together for high school.”

  My head whipped around to glare at my teammate. “She’d better not be one of your ex-girlfriends.”

  “You know I don’t really do the girlfriend thing.”

  I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to convince myself not to punch him in the face at the merest thought of what he and my Cecily might have gotten up to over the years. “Don’t fuck with me on this, Alec.”

  “Nah, man,”—he clapped me on the shoulder—“Cee-Cee and I have always been just friends. I’ve never seen her as anything else.”

  It was hard to believe that he hadn’t tried to get into her pants, not when she was the sexiest woman I’d ever met. But Alec had never lied to me before, so I took him at his word and a deep-seated relief filled me. “Thank fuck,” I groaned, knowing damn well that I wouldn’t have let their thankfully non-existent past—whatever it might have been—stop me from pursuing her.

  I’d spent nine, long months with her on my mind, in my dreams, basically owning all my hard ons. It was like she’d put me under some kind of spell in the hours we’d spent together. No other woman would do. Only her. As much of a douche as it would have made me, the bro code would have flown out the window where she was concerned. The usual rules didn’t mean a thing to me when it came to Cecily. The only thing that mattered was figuring out why the fuck she walked away from me that night—and making sure she stayed put this time around.

  The only good thing that had come from spending the last nine months apart from her was my utter certainty about exactly where she belonged.

  With me, right by my side as my girlfriend. Maybe even more in the not-so-distant future.

  I wanted nothing more than to go to her, toss her over my shoulder, and take her back to my place. To pick up right where we’d left off, after I made her tell me what the fuck happened. But the startled look she’d sent my way combined with how she’d hurried off in the opposite direction let me know that I needed to be careful with my approach. I would proceed with caution with her, now that I knew exactly how to find her again.

  What I couldn’t do was leave things the way they were. There was no way in the hell I was going to spend the next nine months without her like I’d just done. Never again.

  I refused to believe that she didn’t feel the same connection with me as I did her, even though she’d walked away from me. The way her eyes heated when they swept over me before she hurried off confirmed she still felt the spark of attraction between us, even across a crowded bar. It gave me hope that it wouldn’t be too hard to convince her to give us a shot.

  She did her best to stay away from me all night, scurrying away any time I got near. I let her have that play, figuring she needed to focus on her maid of
honor duties. Besides which, I could afford to wait since I had everything I needed to track her down if she managed to get out of here tonight without talking to me. I didn’t think it was likely to happen, I doubted she’d leave before Josie, but I was prepared just in case.

  I let Cecily have her space while I bided my time, but my eyes followed her around the bar the entire time. I couldn’t stop staring at her. She was so fucking gorgeous, somehow more than I remembered. Watching her could quickly become my new favorite pastime—and I had no doubt that there were plenty of other things I’d enjoy doing with her even more.

  “I’m pretty sure Cecily isn’t into the creepy stalker vibe you’ve got going on.” Alec handed me a beer as he dropped down onto the chair next to me. He followed my gaze just in time to catch her glancing my way. She looked at me for the briefest of moments, but it was long enough for her face to fill with heat right along with her eyes. “Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Has she been doing that all night?”

  “Yeah, she’s been sending me what I’m sure she thought were sneaky looks all night, but it’s not like I’m going to miss it when I haven’t been able to tear my eyes away from her.”

  “I called it before. Total stalker behavior,” he laughed, leaning back in his chair.

  I didn’t argue; there wasn’t any point. Alec didn’t seem to care too much as he took a long pull from his beer. I just shrugged my shoulders and continued to watch her over the rim of my beer glass.

  “In all the years I’ve known Cee-Cee, I’ve never seen her act like this around a guy. Usually, she’s super confident. There must be something about you that’s throwing her off her game.”

  I didn’t want to think about her with any other guys, but it was good to hear that she was acting differently with me than anyone who had come before. “Any idea what it could be?”

  “Nope. I’m not even sure if it’s a good sign or a bad one for you.”

  “Shit,” I sighed.

  “I haven’t heard about her dating any other guys, though. For even longer than you’ve been in town.”

  “Yeah?” I asked, turning my head to look at him as I gauged how serious he was.

  “I haven’t seen her much lately. She’s been damn busy at work ever since she got a promotion. So it’s possible I’m just out of the loop, but Josie hasn’t mentioned any double dates or shit like that either.”

  “She damn well better not have,” I growled, wondering how long it would take me to work my way into a double date of my own. A girl doesn’t plan a night like that unless she’s looking for her best friend’s approval on the man in her life.

  “None of her brothers live in the area, so I feel like it’s up to me to have Cee-Cee’s back.” Alec’s tone was laid-back, but the look in his eyes was intent until they twinkled with humor and a huge grin split his face. “I guess it’s a good thing I know you’re serious about her. You wouldn’t have been in a monogamous relationship with your hand all this time, pining away for her, otherwise.”

  “Fuck you, dude,” I retorted half-heartedly.

  “So I guess the question is… are you going to sit there staring at her all night, or are you going to eventually get off your ass and make your move before someone else steals your thunder?”

  I figured he was just trying to mess with my head with his little jab. I stared at her pert ass for a moment, but my enjoyment at the sight fled when my eyes trailed up and I realized her ass was tilted up like that because of the way she was leaning over the bar to speak to the bartender. Suddenly, Alec’s comment made a whole lot of sense. The guy’s eyes were locked on her tits, which were on full display for him with how she was standing. Her head was tilted to the side in the same way she’d done with me when she’d hung on my every word. One of her fingers was playing with her hair at her neck, twirling it round and round.

  She was fucking flirting with him. Right there in front of me.

  “Oh, hell no,” I hissed, gripping the arms of my chair tightly.

  The bartender grinned at her and leaned closer. Any semblance of control I had snapped in an instant.

  “No fucking way!” I swore as I leapt out of my seat to storm across the room. I leveled a glare at the bartender when his gaze jerked up over her shoulder towards me. I kind of wished it had been otherwise since I would have loved an excuse to dive over the bar and beat the shit out of him, but he lifted his hands up in front of him and took a step backwards. Forcing my anger down a notch, because the last thing I wanted to do was hurt Cecily, I grabbed her arm and pulled her from her stool to lead her to a corner of the room where I figured it would be difficult for anyone to overhear us.

  Yanking her arm out of my grip, she glared up at me with fiery eyes. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Jason?”

  “I think the better question is, what the fuck do you think you’re doing, flirting with the bartender like that right in fucking front of me?”

  2

  Cee-Cee

  Who in the hell did he think he was? He might have been the hottest guy I’d ever seen in my life—one who’d messed with my head enough to make my self-imposed break from men last ridiculously long, even though my career was flourishing—but that didn’t mean he had the right to tell me what to do.

  “Why the fuck wouldn’t I? I’m not your girlfriend. I’m just some woman you talked to for a few hours nine months ago. I’m surprised you even remember my name.”

  “I remember a fuck of a lot more than your name, Cecily,” he rumbled.

  “Cee-Cee,” I snapped. “Nobody but my family calls me Cecily.”

  “If you didn’t want me to think of you that way, you shouldn’t have introduced yourself to me as Cecily.”

  He made an excellent point, one I’d wondered about myself quite a few times. I never gave my full name when I met new people, not even in a professional setting. Yet, that’s exactly what I’d done with him. I’d been surprised when my name had slipped out of my mouth back then, and I still wasn’t sure why I’d done it, except that it had felt right at the moment.

  Maybe it was because I’d wanted him to see me as a Cecily, a woman who was more mysterious and sophisticated than fun-loving Cee-Cee. Or it could have just been because Cecily sounded sexier than Cee-Cee. Either way, it apparently hadn’t mattered because he’d easily forgotten about my existence in the few minutes I was in the bathroom.

  “Fine,” I huffed. “You can call me whatever you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m nobody important to you.”

  “Only because you pulled a disappearing act on me!”

  His deep blue eyes flared, in what looked like barely suppressed rage mixed with a hint of hurt. But that didn’t make any sense considering what I’d seen with my own two eyes that night. “I didn’t think you’d care. You seemed happy enough with that brunette at the bar when I came out of the bathroom.”

  “The brunette at the bar,” he echoed softly, the anger in his expression oddly replaced by a flash of humor as he chuckled wryly. “All that time, wasted over a simple misunderstanding. It fucking figures.”

  “What misunderstanding?”

  “Hey, Luka! Aubrey!” he called out to a couple across the room from us. I didn’t know either of them well, but Josie had asked the guy to be one of the ushers in her wedding next weekend. She knew him from her days at grad school. He’d been on the college’s hockey team and had an injury he hadn’t wanted anyone to know about. Josie had been in her third year of her doctorate program in physical therapy, and Alec had introduced the two of them. She’d helped him rehab, and his team had gone on to win the Frozen Four.

  Shit, it would have been the same season Jason had said he’d won it. “You played hockey with Luka at Blythe College?”

  “Yeah,” Jason confirmed as the couple joined us. “I’m not just Alec’s teammate on the Cavaliers. I’m also this guy’s best friend.”

  “He sure is,” Luka agreed.

  “Aubrey, can you do me a favor?”


  “Of course,” she answered happily, with a big grin on her face. She seemed excited to see the two of us standing together. Elated even. Considering I barely knew her, it seemed like a super weird reaction.

  “I swear I’ve got a good reason for doing this, so do me a favor and don’t jump straight into caveman mode on me,” Jason said, looking at Luka before switching his attention back to Aubrey. “Can you come stand in front of me for a second?”

  We’d gone from weird to bizarre.

  Aubrey apparently didn’t find it as peculiar as I did because she moved away from Luka’s side to stand between Jason and me. He gripped her shoulders and gently turned her until she was facing him, her back towards me. Sliding his arms around her back, he gave her a hug while his eyes were locked on my face.

  “Is there anything familiar about the brunette in my arms, Cecily?”

  A sense of déjà vu struck me hard.

  “Enough of that,” Luka grumbled, pulling her away from Jason right as it hit me.

  “It was Aubrey at the bar that night?” I gasped.

  “Yeah, we bumped into Jason while you—well, I mean now we know it was you, but back then we didn’t—were in the bathroom, but you never came back,” she answered for him.

  “Because I saw—” my voice trailed off, but Jason jumped in to fill in the gap.

  “You saw me giving my best friend’s girl a hug hello, leapt to the wrong conclusion, and wrote me off without a goodbye for no reason at all.”

  “Shit,” I groaned. He was right. That was exactly what I’d done.

  “You want to tell me why you were so willing to think the worst of me?”

  “Not really,” I sighed, my eyes darting towards Luka and Aubrey before I forced myself to meet Jason’s gaze. “Most male athletes aren’t like Luka.” I gestured towards the way Jason’s best friend was holding his fiancée close. “They’re not looking for something permanent. I learned that the hard way, more than once. So when I came out of the bathroom and saw you with Aubrey, I figured you were like those guys—looking for nothing more than a fun time.”